A five-judge bench
headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali retracted the contempt notice after Law
Minister Farooq Naek presented a receipt that showed the Swiss authorities had
received the government's recent letter for the revival of the graft cases on
November 9.

During the hearing,
Naek requested the court to dismiss the case as the government's letter, written
by the Attorney General, had been sent to the Swiss Attorney General in
Geneva.

Justice Jamali
acknowledged that the government had complied with the court's directives of
writing to Swiss
authorities for
reopening the graft
cases.

Talking to journalists
after the hearing, Naek said the court's decision was a victory for justice and
democracy. The government, he said, had implemented every directive of the apex
court.

The government's letter
to the Swiss authorities makes it clear that the graft cases can be revived with
the condition that the President enjoys immunity under the Constitution and
Pakistani and international laws. The Supreme Court and the government recently
came to an agreement on the contents of the letter to be sent to
the
Swiss authorities after months of
sparring.

The government had
initially refused to make any move to revive the
cases.

Zardari and his slain
wife, former premier Benazir Bhutto, were accused of laundering millions of
dollars through
Swiss banks. The
ruling Pakistan People's Party has said that the charges against them were never
proved.

The Supreme Court has
been pressuring the government to revive the cases against the President since
December 2009, when it struck down a graft amnesty issued by former militar
ruler Pervez Musharraf that benefited Zardari and over 8,000
others.

The government refused
to act for months before Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf agreed to implement
the apex
court's orders after he was
charged with contempt.

Ashraf's
predecessor, Yousuf Raza Gilani, was convicted of contempt and disqualified in
June for refusing to reopen the cases against Zardari.